Have you ever noticed how the same written content will
often inspire a completely different reaction across a group of readers? The words on the paper (or in the email) do
not change an inch. But the tone of how
it is read, and the agenda behind how we perceive what was written between the
lines, changes to nearly every reader who takes the time to read it. Some folks might have a relationship with you
already, and when an email or a post is made, they interpret those writings
based on that pre-existing relationship.
Where it comes to matters of religion, specifically Christianity, entire
denominations have arisen purportedly because each group of folks reads the
same words in the Bible just a little bit differently. Then those differences became matters of
doctrine. That doctrine then becomes a
test of faith. And before you know it,
we are ready to condemn each other for not teaching truth, because of the
differences in how we perceive scripture – even though we are not actually
arguing about the words themselves – those words do not change. But how we read them does.
Sadly, in matters of religion, those who are quick to
condemn and use the Bible to do so, share another characteristic they are
probably not even aware they have. It is
not so much having a “bad” thing, as it is a lack of an “awesome” thing. Sin is sin.
And sin is never good, should never be endorsed, and frankly is
something all of us struggle with, and something all of us want real relief
from. But when we focus on the sin
itself, we become people who are quick to condemn. When we focus on the redemption from sin, on
the cure for sin, we become people who realize only love will ever get us to
that cure. It is the love of Jesus
Christ, that moves Him to want to cure us.
It is our love for Him, that moves us to want to be cured. Love then, underlies everything in our own
salvation. And when we are people of
love; we start to care about others, in effect, Jesus alters our hearts in the
process of salvation to begin to see the treasure of others. When that overtakes us, we are no longer
people who focus on condemnation, we are people who focus on re-creation and
redemption in the here and now. Same
words. Same Jesus. But a different us.
In our last study, Luke tells us the back story to the
gospel of Jesus Christ, by focusing on Zacharias the father of John the Baptist,
or rather soon-to-be father. Zacharias
is confronted by the angel Gabriel who “stands in the presence of God”. Zacharias is given an awesome revelation of
what is to come. But he is old, his wife
is too, and they have been barren all their lives. So Zacharias looks at his humanity, and
doubts he could ever accomplish such a thing.
Zacharias was a good man, a blameless man, but he looked in the wrong
place for the miraculous. He looked to
human strengths and abilities (namely his own).
Instead He should have looked to God to accomplish what no man (or
science, keep in mind Luke is a physician), could ever accomplish. When God predicts the impossible, He performs
the impossible. He does not ask you to
do it. The same is true of how you will
be saved from you. It is impossible for
you to ever reach perfection, so you are not asked to do that work, you are
asked to let Jesus do it in you, and for you.
You are not asked to stay in your sins but allow Jesus to lift you out
of your sins entirely. As you submit
yourself, your human ideas, strengths, desires, and weaknesses to Jesus – He
does exactly that, He does the impossible in you. The question becomes, how will you
respond. Zacharias was a believer, a
priest by trade, and he practiced what he preached every day. But when Gabriel himself came to him with
great tidings, Zacharias doubted.
Time to change the scene.
Luke will tell the story of another angelic revelation with a very
different outcome. Luke picks up in his
letter (chapter one) of our gospel, in verse 26 continuing … “And in the sixth
month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named
Nazareth, [verse 27] To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of
the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. [verse 28] And the angel
came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is
with thee: blessed art thou among women.”
We move from a focus on the men in this story, to a focus on the
women. And Luke starts not with the
birth of Jesus, or even the conception of Jesus, but with an angelic revelation
of Jesus to a simple virgin girl named Mary.
Now Mary herself was no different then or now, than any other virgin
girl engaged to be married. She was
excited about spending her life with Joseph as her husband. She loved him, and he loved her. The engagement process was just like a time
delay for Joseph to prepare to marry her with a place to live and ability to
take care of her. The engagement delay
also allowed for them to be sure of their feelings, and not make mistakes they
might regret later in life. So Mary was
like any other girl no real difference there.
Mary might have been pretty, but likely no super model. The conditions of life back then required
outdoor physical labor to survive.
Preparing food took effort (harvesting, washing, cutting, cooking over
open fires, and cleaning in a nearby stream).
There were no microwaves, and prepared meals in plastic containers we
simply “throw away” when we are done.
Keeping clothes clean took effort (carrying them to an outdoor water
source, hand washing them over grates, using soap if you could afford it,
drying them on lines or tree branches, then carrying them home again). There were no machines that do all the work
for you except folding them. You get the
idea, life was much more difficult. And
should bad weather appear, it might change everything for you from what you
could do, to what you could eat. So
there were no pampered super models who survived by the publicity of their
looks, untouched by the outdoor rigors of life back then. In this Mary was no different than any other
girl in her town, her region, or her age.
Luke continues in verse 29 saying … “And when she saw him,
she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation
this should be.” Notice, Mary is not
afraid per se, but troubled at this greeting, because from her point of view,
she is far from highly favored and blessed among women. That pronouncement does not fit with a
simple, humble girl, who lives life, like any other simple woman might. And to keep us men humble – while Joseph may
be the love of her life – he is no Brad Pitt such that every other woman in her
hometown would recognize her luck by marrying him. He is just another simple humble man, likely
a virgin himself, who is excitedly waiting to marry the love of his life. And perhaps that love between them might be
enough to warrant the angels pronouncement in our day, or any day come to think
of it. But Joseph, while faithful and
nice, has nothing to do with this.
Luke continues in verse 30 saying … “And the angel said unto
her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. [verse 31] And,
behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call
his name JESUS. [verse 32] He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of
the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father
David: [verse 33] And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of
his kingdom there shall be no end.” There
is immediacy in what the angel proclaims.
This does not sound like a future someday proclamation to her it sounds
like a right now kind of thing. She gets
that. But then, same words different
reaction. We know, because of hindsight,
that the angel was describing the Messiah, and the references to a kingdom
without end, does not mean the removal and overthrow of the Roman empire, it
means a spiritual kingdom where evil is defeated once and for all time. But she hears these words and can easily
associate them with every commonly held belief about the Messiah at that time,
meaning He was to ascend to David’s throne, and establish a kingdom (earthly)
without end as He grows up. The words of
the angel did not change, but perception, and preconceived ideas about belief
would have colored them greatly.
Luke continues in verse
34 saying … “Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I
know not a man? [verse 35] And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy
Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee:
therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the
Son of God. [verse 36] And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also
conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was
called barren. [verse 37] For with God nothing shall be impossible.” Mary responds by asking the most obvious
simple logistical question – how will this be considering she is still a virgin. Mary knows how it is supposed to work, and
this has never happened. The angel
responds by telling her that the Holy Ghost will come upon her, and beyond
that, that the power of the Highest will overshadow her. That could be a reference to God the Father
(particularly as she would have understood it).
And all of this to insure there is no doubt as to who the Father of
Jesus would truly be – it would not be human – it would be divine. Jesus would rightly be called the Son of God.
Notice too, Mary does not ask for a sign. She only asks how it is possible, given how
it is supposed to work. But Mary is
given a sign anyway. The angel refers
her to her cousin Elisabeth (perhaps obedience runs in the family) as being already
6 months pregnant. Elisabeth who is
known to her family and around the region as barren. Elisabeth who is old, WAY too old to be even
thinking about being pregnant. But all
of this is to prove, that with God, NOTHING is impossible. And the parallels to our salvation remain
just as pertinent, what we are unable to do to save ourselves, we were never
meant to do – but with God nothing is impossible including changing you from
who you are, to who He intended you to be.
You cannot cure your sin problem.
But God can. Not just forgive
mind you, but cure. Not just overlook
your past, but make for you a new future, absent of sin altogether. [Take in that oil of the wise virgins while
there is yet time.] Mary is not meant to
solve this problem herself, she is meant to witness the power of the Lord in
solving it.
And so Mary responds as Luke continues in verse 38 saying …
“And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy
word. And the angel departed from her.” Mary
does not argue. Mary does not
debate. She accepts. And irony of ironies, she accepts no matter
the cost to her personally. For what the
angel has said, is how history will view her from those who believe. But it is NOT how she will be viewed in her
own time and age. Not even the love of
her life Joseph will believe her at first (it will take an angelic visit of his
own before he is willing to accept the impossible). And so beyond Joseph, the virgin mother of
Jesus will be called an adulterous whore by those who will not believe, and by
those who employ common sense to guide their thinking, not faith in an
impossible God who routinely does do the impossible. At best, she will be condemned as breaking
her engagement with Joseph to make him the Father earlier than when they were to
be formally married. At worst, she will
be no better than a whore that deserved to be stoned for betrayal in which she
was caught. But no personal cost to her
or her reputation would be considered.
Instead just a simple yes.
It is particularly interesting to me, the contrast in
response of Zacharias and of Mary.
Zacharias was a good man, there is no condemnation here of him by me,
nor should there be. Yet even a priest
was prone to human doubt. The simple
virgin bride to be, made no request for a sign, and simply submitted even when
she did not have to, and even when it will cost her reputation forever. Even though it might even cost her, her
pending marriage. She responded with a
simple yes. For the Bible being a book
that is supposed to be hard on women, that is not what I read. I read women who keep defining themselves of
those with cast iron faith, while the men around them do far less, in the same
circumstances at the same time and age.
I see women who follow God without question, while men seem to have so
much harder a time trying to do the same.
Mary will have a normal life after the birth of Jesus. She will be wife and mother of several more
children. She will go on to be nothing
more extraordinary than any other woman of her age, but in this single act of
submission and faith, she will carry the honor of having been mother to Love
incarnate.
Perhaps it was the love within her, that made all the
difference. Perhaps it is the love in
you and I, that can still make all the difference. For we serve a God where nothing is still
impossible, no matter what it looks like in our age. I pray our responses are different when we
are yet called …
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